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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-01-11 Letter to Mary Alice Evans re Feedback on "small cell" application process bill"Harry Kim Mayor Counfg Pniuni`i Wil Okabe Managing Director Barbara J. Kossow Deputy Managing Director ®fftri xf fir Anwar 25 Aupuni Street, Suite 2603 • Hilo, Hawai'i 96720 • (808) 961-8211 • Fax (808) 961-6553 KONA: 74-5044 Ane Keoholcalole Hwy., Bldg C • Kailua-Kona, Hawai'i 96740 (808) 323-4444 • Fax (808) 323-4440 January 11, 2018 Mary Alice Evans Deputy Director Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism 250 S. Hotel St., 5th Floor Honolulu, Hawai'i 96813 Dear Ms. Evans, RE: Feedback on "small cell application process bill" Thank you for providing the County of Hawai'i ("County"), through its Director of Information Technology, the opportunity to review and provide you with feedback on the "small cell application process bill" drafted by the Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism. The County has serious concerns and reservations about the presently drafted version of this Bill. An initial threshold issue which the County would like resolved is why private, for- profit telecommunications companies need to deploy and implement their "small-cell" networks on public lands. As to this issue, please provide the County with the justification or reasons why a new "small-cell" network for private telecommunications companies must be deployed and/or implemented on public lands. The Bill states that it is necessary for State laws to regulate the way that the "small cell" network is implemented and/or deployed throughout the State, which is premised on the argument that the individual counties do not have procedures for processing applications for telecommunications companies to use public property. However, this County is presently able to process requests for telecommunications companies to use public property. Within the past year and a half, a particular telecommunications company has made several requests to place equipment related to a "small cell" network at various sites in this County, but the County was not able to approve those requests for various reasons, such as, one of the proposed location of equipment not leaving enough sidewalk space to satisfy ADA requirements and one of the proposed location being a pole that the County does not own. County of Hawaii Hawaia is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer. Mary Alice Evans January 10, 2018 Page 2 If a telecommunications company does its due diligence as to legal requirements and proposes an acceptable location for its equipment, then the County will work with that company on a site-specific agreement to allow the company to install and use its equipment in that location. The County fundamentally opposes the present premise for this Bill and desires to maintain its control over public property placed under its jurisdiction in order to directly manage requests from potential vendors to use public property. It is important that the County retains the right to approve or deny these requests on a case-by-case basis to include analyzing pole or structural capacities and loads and any plans the County may have to use the infrastructure. The Bill presently does not provide for requiring studies for wind loading impacts such as flat plate area (ft2) and lateral wind load thrust (lbf), a RF Interference Analysis / Intermodulation Study by an approved radio engineering firm, or a provision for structural analysis to maintain County's standards for structural stability during wind events. In some cases where there are such plans for future use, then the County may require a vendor to cover the market cost of upgrading infrastructure to satisfy the County's present and/or future needs. Furthermore, site-specific license or easement agreements will allow the County to address each request for installation according to that site's capabilities and needs, account for the County's future or planned use of specific infrastructure, allow the County to protect itself from liability due to the "small-cell" equipment's location on public land, provide for fair and equitable maintenance responsibilities, and clarify that the County will not need to compensate companies if it is necessary to change or move the affected infrastructure. The County also has the following additional comments and concerns about the draft Bill: 1. Sites that the County is presently using for public safety and/or emergency communications must be excluded from any version of this Bill due to concerns over access, security, potential interference, and the compelling public health and safety needs to keep those communications systems fully operable. 2. The Bill does not address the fees that the County may assess for the use of public property, which a company could argue allows it to locate equipment on public property for free. The County recalls that similar bills were introduced during the last Legislative Session which allowed for no or a nominal fee, and the County believes that it would violate the public's trust in holding and managing public lands if it accepted less than fair market value for a private company's use of public lands. County of Hawai'i is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer. Mary Alice Evans January 10, 2018 Page 3 3. The Bill's broad language allowing collocation on not just poles, but also any public buildings or structures is also troubling because this encompasses an incredibly wide range of public property. As previously stated, sites used for public safety and/or emergency communications must be excluded from any version of this Bill. Departments also have expressed security and maintenance concerns about private companies accessing their premises, buildings, and/or structures. 4. Some of the sites that the County uses for its microwave network have restrictions on co -locators and the County is presently negotiating a license in which the landowner is proposing similar restrictions. If this Bill passes, it is foreseeable a company may argue those restrictions on co -locators are not a valid basis to deny an application to co -locate. This compelled co -location may cause the County to be in violation of its agreements with landowners, which could ultimately lead to the landowners terminating their agreements with the County. 5. Finally, the County also has concerns about the size of the equipment that the draft Bill proposes to allow telecommunications companies to install on public property. The County's present radio system uses 20 foot long transmit and receive antennae that only amount to 07 cubic feet, so the 6 cubic feet presently allowed in the draft Bill will allow companies to install significantly large equipment (contradicting the title of a "small cell" network). The Bill also allows equipment on pole structures to be up to twenty-one cubic feet, which further raises safety concerns. Given the reasons stated here, the County cannot support the draft version of the Bill. cerely, HARRY IM Mayor County of Rawaii is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer.